


Rank

by sceawere



Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: Angst and Humor, F/M, He's using humour to cope, I try to make him just a little bit happy at the end, Nurses, Nurses & Nursing, Smoking, Tommy is slowly becoming a shell of a man and it's upsetting, War, World War I
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-04-21 04:58:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14277420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sceawere/pseuds/sceawere
Summary: “Lighten up, Officer Mud-Brain. I had better conversation with that French lad last night. I don’t speak French. And he’s in a coma. So-“ you flicked a hand up, turning on the spot “perk up”Tommy meets the acquaintance of a charming nurse during the Great War.





	Rank

The first time you met Tommy Shelby you were covered in muck and blood, sheltering under a blown out doorway in God-Knows-Where, France.

The rain was falling in buckets, had been for days, and you’d found five consecutive seconds to sit and do nothing. You were bundled up in the jacket of a possible dead man. He sauntered right up and planted himself next to you on an empty munitions crate. At least you hoped it was empty.

“Is that even lit?” he asked.

You lifted your hand, pinched the cig between your fingers and lifted just far away from your mouth to speak.

“My lighter ran out and my matches are wet. I’m hoping my brain will be tricked by the taste alone”

He broke out in laughter and you couldn’t help but smile back at him. He fished into his pocket, bringing out a lighter and passing it to you. You waved him off, passing the cig over.

“You have it. I should be quitting anyway”

You sat in silence together, or at least you didn’t speak. It wasn’t silent. There were men shouting to each other as they ran through the rain. Of course, the rain falling into the churning mud. Explosions from off in the distance, outbreaks of gunfire, the soundtrack to your life now.

“Is that a fucking bird?” you leaned forward, squinting up into the light. There was a flickering shape on the top of the building opposite that you could have sworn was a pigeon.

“It’s a pigeon” the solider replied, blowing smoke up as if the thing would fly down and take a drag itself. You turned with a smirk, then back out into the street.

“I haven’t seen a pigeon in a week. The guns keep ‘em away” you added, leaning over your knees again.

“That’s because they’re smarter than us” he pointed, rocking his finger into the air.

You snorted a laugh, turning back to him.

“You think we’re dumber than pigeons?”

“You ever seen a pigeon drive a tank?” he replied.

“What the fuck would they need-are you alright? Do I need to take you back to med with me?”

He shot you a smile and you about melted into the slop of mud. You licked your lips, throwing another look out into the street as a van beeped its way through what was left of the street.

“What’s your name?”

“Tommy”

“Well, Thomas. I hate to break it to you. But-“

There was a louder explosion off the way and a sudden increase in gunfire. You could hear the men shouting and screaming from here and you pushed up from the crate, stepping out into the street to see. There was a distinct plume that wasn’t there before. You dragged your eyes across, not looking away until the last second. Tommy was still sat calmly on the crate, finishing the smoke you’d gave him.

You stepped back under the cover, leaning against the doorway. You must look funny, your long skirt emerging from under a jacket much too big for you. Your hair was frizzing out of the scarf you’d wrapped it up in, strands tumbling over your face.

“You’ve been out here too long” He looked up at you “that’s what I was…going to say. You’ve been out here too long and you’ve got mud in your head. I see it. You’re not the first”

“You’ve not been out here long enough” he replied gravely, holding your gaze.

 

* * *

 

“Good morning, nurse”

You jumped, swinging around, only to find it was Tommy walking towards you.

“Didn’t they teach you not to sneak up on women who are handy with scalpels, Officer Mud-Brain?” you snarked at him, going back to unloading the crates.

“Oh, I have a gun, Nurse Pigeon. I think I’ll be fine”

“Well here, have helping hands as well, there you go” you hauled a crate up and shoved it at him.

“What is it?”

“It’s-“you leaned in and whispered conspiratorially “a secret potion to fight the Germans”

You leaned back, opening the lid for him and picking up a bottle.

“Ah, no wait, sorry. To fight the ‘germs’” you turned the bottle round and tapped at the label “that was an error on my part, I apologise”

You dropped the bottle back in, the glass clinking together, and fit the lid back. Tommy was staring back at you, unsmiling, tongue in cheek. His eyes were flat but there was something there.

“Lighten up, Officer Mud-Brain. I had better conversation with that French lad last night. I don’t speak French. And he’s in a coma. So-“you flicked a hand up, turning on the spot “perk up”

You set off across the muddy street, picking up another crate as you went. You lugged it into the abandoned house you were using as a storeroom and passed it off to another nurse. Tommy trailed behind you, leaving his on the table.

“Thanks”

“You’re welcome”

You thought he’d leave but he stayed hovering in the middle of the room.

“You not going out today?” you asked, sniffing and wiping your face off.

“No, I thought I might…go to the pictures. Then on to the pub, what do you think?” he sniffed now, putting his hands into his pockets. You dragged yourself back onto the table, swinging your legs off the edge.

“I’m thinking…about checking the alcohol content of these bottles” you tilted your head, gesturing towards the crates. The other nurse came back in, lifting the one you had your eye on, smirking at you. You knew her. She knew you. You kept each other going.

“Oh, no. Mary’s walking away with them” you gave a little hum of disappointment as her figure retreated “lost opportunity there. We’ll have to be off to the pub after all, Officer Mud-Brain”

“Shelby”

“Huh?”

“Sergeant Shelby”

“Oh, is it? ‘Sergeant Shelby’. Piss off!” you dragged out the end, laughing when he did “What? Not Sergeant Major?”

“There’s still time” he nodded his head to the side.

“Oh, tell me about it. Then again, you all keep shooting each other like this, I’ll be home by Christmas. There won’t be none of you left”

“Then you won’t have done a very good job, Nurse Pigeon”

You pulled the edge of the table, sliding off.

“That’s Nurse Pigeon Major, to you sir” he smirked back at you and you smiled, rocking in place. It was freezing, the cold air swimming in the open doorway. You’d shut the door but there wasn’t one left.

“When they sending you back?” you asked, tone serious. He sniffed and moved over to lean against the table.

“I’m on training for a few days. Don’t know after that. Might get leave”

“Hmm. Think you’ll get home for a bit?”

“No. I won’t go if they send me” you turned to look at him but he had his eyes out the door.

“Harder to come back?” he nodded and you gave a grimace “Yeah. Who is it waiting for you? There a ‘Mrs Mud-Brain’ out there?”

He lifted a brow, turning to you.

“Why? You interested in the position?” he asked in his customary irreverent tone.

You smiled back at him, rolling your eyes, taking his place of staring out the doorway.

“Pictures and the pub, you say?”

“Pictures and the pub”

“Go on then, Sergeant Shelby”

 

* * *

 

 

“You look a fucking state, Thomas Mudby”

He took the cig from his lips slowly, arm sore and cold. He didn’t need to look up to you, your shadow blocking out the low light that peeked through the clouds.

“Did you know…there are men with guns out there? This place is going downhill, Nurse Major”

You stepped around him carefully, dropping to sit beside him.

“It’s not a gun that did that” you traced your fingertips lightly over the slice down the side of his face, letting your hand drop to his shoulder. He grimaced when you did, a bandage peeking out over the collar of his jacket.

“No, not a gun. Where were you?”

“I had leave” he hummed, keeping his eyes staring straight ahead “I went home. Had a man who required my attention”

“Is he alright?” he spat.

“Put on 3lb since her last letter and they think he’s got a tooth coming through already” you replied, finger tracing over the edge of his neck. He scowled and turned to you, breeze stealing the smoke as it poured from his lips.

“My sister had her baby when I first got out here. I wanted to meet him while I could. Might get shot. Might get Typhoid. A pigeon might eat me”

He scoffed, rolled his eyes, and turned away.

“There’s no Mr Nurse. Unless you’re interested in the position?”

He didn’t reply, eyes set on the mud.

“Are you alright, Tommy?”

“I’m fine. I’m wearing a bandage, look” he pointed to his shoulder, throwing the stub away.

 

* * *

 

 

Tommy woke with a start, grabbing up at your throat. You twisted his wrist away as you pulled him up.

“Get up, move”

“What’s-what’s happening?” he groaned out as he slid off the edge of the bed. You started guiding him away, arm over your shoulder, as a guard came in to sweep the bay.

“They’re moving us back”

“Where?” his voice was sluggish in comparison to your frantic tone.

“I’m not sure they know” you kicked a discarded box out the way of the door, almost slipping as your feet squelched into the mud outside.

“What happened?”

“They said a tunnel failed? They were trying to divert them - I don’t know, all I got told is we’re too close to their line. There’s another station a couple miles east, I bet we’ll head there” you helped him slump onto the back of the van, turning back to the abandoned building you’d fashioned into the hospital. Tommy grabbed at your arm, pulling back.

“I have to go! Tommy! I have to- I’m coming back, alright?” you stepped to him, meeting your foreheads “I’m coming back”

 

* * *

 

 

The van was gone when you returned with the hastily packed med bags, eyes tearing around the street. It was the middle of the night when the guards had barged in and the only light was the moon.

“Richard!” You screamed across to a soldier you recognised, sloshing through the mud towards where he was packing another van up.

“I don’t have time!” he screamed back, lifting his arms to you as he backed away.

“Where’s my van gone?”

“Soon as they’re full we’re shipping them out, get in with me, come on”

“It had my patient in, Richard! I can’t just- what if we get split up? It happened after the last retreat”

“Then he’ll get a new nurse” he huffed, slamming the doors.

 

* * *

 

 

“Nurse Pigeon?”

You scowled, turning back over your shoulder.

“Jesus Christ” you spat, pushing up from the sand.

“Your sights not improved since I last saw you, then”

That fucking smile.

“Tommy Shelby” you whispered, throwing yourself into him. You laughed into his chest as he wrapped his arms around you, head tucked up against your ear.

“What? No insult?”

“I was always very respectful, actually”

“You called me Officer Mud Brain”

“Exactly, I made sure to use an appropriate rank”

He laughed, pulling back just enough so you could bend your neck to meet his eyes. His fingers played with a strand of hair falling from your scarf, dancing its way down passed your ear. Your hand traced the edge of his jaw.

“It didn’t scar”

“No”

You squidged your nose up, grimacing.

“Shame”

His smile stretched out slowly, like the sun peeking over the bank behind him.

“The hell you doing here at this time?”

“Is it the hour that’s troubling you?” he replied.

“How’d you find me? I thought, once I got back to England…”

He blinked, tilting his head as he looked out over the beach.

“I have my ways”

“Creep” you turned, resting against his side as you watched the light pouring out over the water.

“Mary was with me at the hospital. She gave me your details before I went back out”

“Bless her. Her and Richard are having twins you know” you turned to look up at him “twins. You couldn’t pay me”

He laughed, tucking his arm around and over your shoulder, like you had when you last saw him. You trailed your eyes over his profile, blinking away when he turned. You saw him smirk in your periphery.

“Piss off” you whispered, ducking under his arm. You grabbed his wrist as you walked away, dragging him behind you towards the house.


End file.
